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18 January 2011

Knuckle under

I can't remember if I posted a while back that we lost our home aid this last year. And I'm too lazy to go look and check right now. I may have just posted it on my facebook.

Anyway, we lost the aid we had this summer past. And I really liked her. She worked well with Liam and when I was working with Liam she would get busy cleaning my house. It was a win-win. But, the agency she worked for didn't treat her all that well. She had to drive an hour to my house and her time wasn't compensated. Also, she was a real nurse. And Liam doesn't need nursing. He just needs a playmate. She wanted somewhere that she could actually use her degree in her chosen profession. So, she quit.

The agency attempted to get another aid in here for us but, I don't like having new people come into my home, in our safe place, and take care of my son. That's my job. And while I appreciated the break that our previous aid was able to give me, I didn't enjoy the thought of bringing in someone new and trying to build a relationship all over again. It's just not fun for me. I was also starting to have problems with the agency myself (like lying) and I didn't want to work with them anymore.

I talked to my case manager about not having an aid and what it would do for Liam's medicaid and she said it would be ok not to get another one. I was surprised since I had to sign papers saying I would allow one just to get Liam medicaid in the first place and now she was saying he didn't have to. Awesome!

I did miss having D around to help. She was really good. But I just didn't want to go through the whole process again. So, if I didn't have to, I wasn't going to.

Then November rolled around.

When Liam turned 3 in November he had to be reevaluated for the program we are in that qualifies him for medicaid.. The requirement came up by the head honcho in Raleigh that Liam needed an aid again.

This time, instead of the 12 hours a week we were getting, we could drop down to only 6 and still keep Liam qualified. I liked that plan. A lot.

For three days a week I have a new aid come in for only two hours at a time. We just met her this Monday so she's only been here twice. And she's very quiet. But so far so good. She doesn't seem like an axe murderer yet.

With the two hour time slot, I use up her entire first hour staying by Liam's side in his stander. Since he needs help with his head, she can stay by his side while he plays and watches his movies. And I get to get a few things done. I actually got a bathroom clean this morning!

While I've had to give in to having a stranger in my home, the short time seems like it's going to work well. It's just enough to get a few things done but not so much that I feel someone has come in and taken over my job as the mom.

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This blog has journaled the fallout of giving birth to a micropreemie & how it's affected everything in our life from marriage & family, to friends & church & beyond. Liam's early arrival gave him a list of diagnoses like CP, CVI, & ROP. His most impacting special needs are his mixed tone ataxic/athetoid-like cerebral palsy & vision issues. He's non-verbal but teaches us all. Follow along as we try to live this crazy normal, knowing God is the author and he isn't finished writing this story.